Hand-Picked Alternatives for Fans of The Candy Girl: Cult Guide

Dir: Eugene Moore

In ancient Egypt the young Prince of Tsa, bored by endless feasts, yearned for adventures, and clothed in a Nile boatman's garb, started out. He meets and is captivated by the charms of Ashubetis, a beautiful image maker, but his father, Pharaoh, planning a royal marriage, is enraged and orders death for the maiden and imprisonment for his son. Braving parental wrath, the prince escapes, and tries to save his loved one. He fails and is taken home mortally wounded. Ashubetis succeeds in seeing the prince in his dying moments and swears eternal faithfulness. On leaving she is discovered and thrown to the crocodiles. In Florida of 1916 a young couple meet, love each other, and part. Light is thrown on their strange love when they find a book telling of the Royal Romance of Egypt, and they see in themselves the re-embodied spirits of the ancient pair. On the anniversary of the prince's death five thousand years before, the Florida couple meet again at the prince's tomb. The strange reunion was witnessed by a passing party of tourists, who, hearing the tale for the first time, ask their lecturer if the young couple are the reincarnated lovers, and he replied: "It might be, who knows? Love is deathless. To love all things are possible."

Dir: Eugene Moore

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Woman in Politics perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

When Dr. Beatrice Barlow, who has recently been appointed to the city health commission, disregards a warning about denouncing as unsafe and unsanitary a tenement which Mayor Glynn owns, she is fired. After learning that the city's newspaper is also owned by Glynn, Dr. Barlow writes to the governor and is granted a hearing the next month. Upon finding a case of smallpox in the tenement, Dr. Barlow unsuccessfully attempts to have it quarantined. When she puts up a quarantine sign herself, a health official struggles with her, but a man appears and thrashes the official. Although the mayor and his cronies hide a man in her hotel room to compromise her, the man who helped her learns of the plot, and it is foiled. When the tenement catches fire, the man rescues Dr. Barlow, but she is then lured to a sanitarium and imprisoned. The man finds her, arrests her keepers and brings her to the hearing in time to present evidence against the mayor, who is imprisoned. Finally the man reveals himself to be the governor's private secretary.

Dir: Eugene Moore

Orphaned after the death of their mother, Nancy Grimm and her baby sister Ellen are taken to the country where Ellen is adopted by the wealthy Walsh family. Nancy keenly feels the loss of her sister, and when the judge rules that she cannot visit Ellen without permission, she throws herself onto a bench, winning the sympathy of young attorney Chester Noble. Nancy is then placed in the Wick's home where she is treated as a servant. Miserable, Nancy cuts off her hair and, dressed as a boy, runs away. Learning that Mrs. Walsh has tired of the novelty of having a baby, Nancy goes to the Walsh house and steals Ellen away, but the fugitives are found by the police and returned to the orphanage. Desperate, Nancy goes to Chester and confesses all, and the young attorney agrees to help her. After sending Nancy to his parents in the South, Chester intervenes and convinces the court to put the sisters in the custody of his parents, and thus Ellen and Nancy are finally reunited.

Dir: Eugene Moore

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Girl Who Won Out perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

"Beware of the water devil." That was what the editor said to the star reporter as he sent him off to Florida to investigate the mysterious water denizen that was causing a panic among the residents on the shores of Crystal Lake. The reporter laughed; he was not a bit worried about the water devil, for his assignment was taking him to the spot where his sweetheart lived and where he suspected a great treasure in gold bullion that had been stolen from her father was buried. Four crooks had stolen the gold from the mine of his sweetheart's father in Mexico and had carried it by boat to Florida, where one of them had double-crossed his pals, marooned them on an island in a lake, buried the gold and went north, expecting to join his wife and disappear with her, returning to Florida later for the gold, but the other crooks got away sooner than he expected, followed him North and besieged him in his own house. Cut off from all help, he wrote a note to his wife. He also drew a map telling where he had hidden the treasure, painted it over with blue watercolor and hung it on his wall just before the avengers broke in. In the fight that followed he was blinded and mortally wounded and was taken to the hospital. The wife of one of the crooks followed him there, knowing that he was blind, and pretending to be his wife, tried to get the secret of the treasure, but failed. Later he died after saying to his wife, who came at last: "The blue picture; the blue picture." Being out of money and unable to solve the mystery of the blue picture, the wife wrote to the mine owner, offering to divide the gold if he could help her locate it. The owner was away, and before his daughter could answer the letter the crooks managed to do away with the writer of it and carried off the blue picture, which they suspected contained the clue. It is at the scene of the killing that the reporter meets the mine owner's daughter and falls in love with her. It is there, too, that the reporter finds a fragment of the blue picture and suspects its importance, chiefly from the efforts of the wife of the sole surviving crook to steal it from him. He lets her steal it at last, and then follows her and finds the blue picture in the shack in Florida where she lives with her husband. This shack is on the banks of the lake where the water devil moves and has his being. Hesitating to carry off the picture, the reporter photographs it, only to find out later that blue (the picture is blue) is non-actinic and does not photograph. His sweetheart, who develops the film for him, comforts him for his failure. They throw aside the film as useless; they had hoped the pictured scene would give them the location of the gold. The film falls into the hands of the woman who now has the picture, and she finds out that the writing and the plan giving the secret has photographed through the blue and can be read by the aid of a magnifying glass. But before she can take the secret to her husband and with him find and get away with the gold, the daughter of the rightful owner of the gold comes upon her, takes the film from her, locks her up, and gets to the reporter with the glad tidings that at last she knows where the stolen gold is buried. Unluckily, the imprisoned woman's husband is with the reporter when the girl brings the news, and he offers to take the pair to the island where the gold is buried, in his boat, and help them to dig it up. All this he does, and then he calmly tells them that the gold is his and they are going to die and be buried in the hole from which the gold was taken. Just at this moment, when the ruffian, standing in the gold-ladened boat, raises his rifle and is about to shoot, from the water behind the boat rises the water devil, of whom much had been told, but of whose real existence few people had been convinced. It carries off the would-be murderer, and the girl, happy in having restored to her father his lost gold, finds still greater happiness in the life-long love of the young reporter, whose bride she consents to be.

Dir: Eugene Moore

The conversation at Dr. Emerson's farewell bachelor dinner veered to the struggles in the medical world to achieve success legitimately. "Tomorrow," said Emerson, "I operate on a rich old man; one of his relatives offered me $20,000 if he dies." After the others had departed, the rejected suitor lingered, and kept Emerson up late, plying him with wine. The next day, he was unfit for the operation, and the patient died. The police arrested Emerson on evidence contained in an anonymous letter and statement of the rejected suitor that Emerson had confessed the crime. On the way to prison Emerson escaped by jumping into the river, and after a futile search was reported as drowned. Years passed, and the rival, who had married Emerson's former fiancée, became a successful ship owner. On visiting one of his ships his little daughter makes friends with a morose sailor, and a few days later she disappears. After several months an aviator brings her back to her father, with a note tucked in her dress, "She has been saved by your bitterest enemy. Beware. Some day he will strike through her." She tells of the trip on one of his own leaky boats, the wreck, and her rescue by the sailor "doctor man," and her father realizes with terror who his enemy is.

Dir: Eugene Moore

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Her Father's Gold perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The second of "Thanhouser Big Productions," a monthly schedule, Joseph in the Land of Egypt was a true "feature" film, a new class of film which came to dominate the market by the end of 1914. A feature was an hour or more, heavily advertised, with elaborate production values, often with higher ticket prices, longer runs per theater, strongly promoted star cast and was always a drama. Thanhouser followed up on the enormous success one year earlier of THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM with a familiar Biblical story, large and highly decorated (and highly populated) sets, elaborate costumes and (something new) star promotion. Only a few "Thanhouser Big Productions" in early 1914 included specially-commissioned scores from Tams Music Library. It had been common for accompanists to improvise or use standard selections from theater and classical music, or "cue sheets" of compilations tailored specifically to the film. Beginning in 1915, the biggest features included original scores commissioned by the production studio. The performed score for JOSEPH IN THE LAND OF EGYPT is a combination of the written original music and the musician's improvisation based on its themes. This original music is a transition to the fully-composed scores introduced in Europe and the U.S. a year later. Whether it is another Thanhouser innovation is a subject for research. As in all the other titles in this Thanhouser collection, organist Ben Model exhibits the demanding and skillful art of improvisation.

Dir: Eugene Moore

The story is centered about an oval diamond, a priceless gem, found by a South African miner on his claim. His possession of it has aroused the envy of his stepbrother, Major Dennison, his former partner, and the latter's son, Arthur Dennison, and of four miners who owned adjacent claims. To escape their plotting to gain possession of the stone, the owner and his daughter, Sylvia, left for America. Shortly after their arrival in the United States, however. Major Dennison and his son had effected an automobile accident with the taxicab in which Mr. Daunt and his daughter were riding, had killed his stepbrother, and had escaped with diamond. Later, on her search for the gem, Sylvia had gone to her uncle's house where she had been imprisoned and restrained from going beyond the high walls which enclosed the plane. All this had happened before the beginning of the play. Things of importance for Sylvia do not begin to happen until the entrance of Robert Ledyard, impressionable youth, over the garden wall. On a trip south, Robert discovers that there is something mysterious and unfathomable about the house next to the one in which his uncle, whom he is visiting, lives. To further his suspicions, he discovers a very hampered and unhappy looking girl in the enclosed yard. Feeling certain that she is in trouble, he throws a note to her in which he offers his services, and asks her to nod her head if he can be of assistance. Hardly waiting for a reply, he follows his note over the garden wall, and learns the story of her distress. The complications which follow with the return of Major Dennison and his son before Robert has time to return to his uncle's house, start Robert's fight for the possession of the oval diamond. Robert escapes, eludes now Major Dennison and his son, and later the four miners, who, too, have come to America determined to possess the diamond. He finds the diamond a thousand times and loses it again. It travels through hundreds of hands during the brief five thousand feet of its existence, but in the end it comes back to stay in the hands which own it. Sylvia marries Robert. They start north on their wedding trip. In his pocket the young bridegroom carries a small package which he carefully guards, feeling nervously now and again, to see that he has not lost it. Following them is a mysterious character who watches and shakes his head shrewdly as he sees the evident feeling of insecurity which possesses Robert. As the young bride and groom sit on the rear platform of the train the stranger appears before them, removes his mustache, and demands at the point of the pistol, that Robert hand over the small package in his pocket. It is Colby, one of the miners. Knowing that resistance is futile, the young man hands over his guarded package, and the thief drops from the speeding train. After he had gone, the young husband laughs, and pulls from an inside pocket the real diamond. The one he had given to Colby was paste.

Dir: Eugene Moore

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Modern Monte Cristo perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Comte Paul De Valreas is attracted to Frou Frou, the frivolous wife of Henri De Sartorys and the indifferent mother of their young son Georges. Paul persuades Frou Frou to bring her somber sister Louise, who secretly loves Henri, into the household, thus freeing her from any domestic duties. Frou Frou returns Paul's affections and neglects her husband and son even more than before. Louise quickly assumes direction of Henri's home and innocently supplants Frou Frou in the eyes of her husband and child. Sensing that her presence is no longer needed at the Sartorys estate, Frou Frou bitterly denounces Louise and then elopes with Paul to Venice. Henri pursues them and slays his rival in a duel. Alone in Venice, Frou Frou becomes gravely ill. She is found on her deathbed by Louise, who summons Henri and Georges. As she dies, Frou Frou gives the three her blessing.

Dir: Eugene Moore

Prompted by her mother, Baby Marie Watson has been accustomed to recite her bedtime prayers every night. When a misunderstanding results in the separation of Marie's parents, Mr. Watson gains custody of his daughter. Saddened by the loss of her mother, Baby Marie works herself into a fever because she cannot remember her bedtime prayers. She calls for her mother, and the faithful butler, taking pity on the child, fetches her. Brought together by a mutual concern for their daughter, the Watsons decide to reconcile their differences and save their marriage.

Dir: Eugene Moore

High spirited daughter of Miller Tulliver, the owner of the "Mill on the Floss," Maggie Tulliver goes to visit Tom, her brother, at his boarding school and becomes acquainted with Philip Wakem, Tom's crippled schoolmate. After Philip's father, a prosperous lawyer, schemes to take over the mill, Tom forces Maggie to end her liaison with Philip. To satisfy his father's dying wish, Tom maneuvers to reclaim the mill, which legends say will cause the Floss River to flood if it is lost to the Tullivers, but throws Maggie out of the house when he hears spurious reports about her friendship with Stephen Guest, her cousin's fiancé. Although she loves Stephen, Maggie decides to give him up and mend her relationship with Tom. On her way to his house, the Floss begins to overflow, threatening to destroy the mill. Bravely Maggie struggles to save her brother, but the river overcomes them, and they die, clasped in each other's arms.